Higgins: Murphy breaking new ground in China

JOHN HIGGINS claimed Shaun Murphy was in the form of his life after the world number one was knocked out of the China Open at the quarter-final stage yesterday.

Murphy swept aside the Scot, the current UK and Welsh Open champion, 5-2, rattling off the last three frames with breaks of 108, 54 and 81.

Higgins, who only managed one contribution over 50, took a scrappy opener, before Murphy posted a 53 and a 78 to move 2-1 ahead.

A score of 61 got Higgins level, but he had no answer to his opponent’s fluent cueing, as the 2005 world champion booked his last-four spot.

“I’m disappointed to lose but the better player won,” Higgins said. “I made a couple of mistakes at crucial times and Shaun is the type of player you don’t want to do that against.

“Shaun’s proved you can’t afford to make any mistakes against him so I can have no complaints. He’s a better player now than when he won the world title. He played great to become world champion but maybe didn’t have the safety game to compete in more and more tournaments. But now he’s a top-class, rounded player and he’s tough to beat at any time.”

Mark Selby was also in blistering form, hitting three centuries as he crushed Ali Carter 5-1. Selby led 3-0 thanks to a run of 78 in the second frame and 129 in the third.

Carter got on the board by taking the fourth, but Selby finished the match in style thanks to breaks of 130 and 139.

Home favourite Ding Junhui and Judd Trump completed the semi-final line-up. Ding saw off Stephen Lee 5-2, a run of 134 which gave him a 3-1 lead the highlight of his performance.

Lee levelled the match at 1-1 after losing the opening frame, but Ding raced into a 4-1 lead, taking the fifth frame on the black despite a break of 69 from the Englishman. Lee reduced the deficit, but there was to be no comeback as a run of 54 gave Ding the remaining frame needed for victory.

Trump thrashed Peter Ebdon 5-1.

Ebdon had little answer to the Bristol man’s onslaught as he racked up a century and four other scores over 50. An opening 130 set the tone for Trump, who went 4-0 up thanks to breaks of 52, 60 and 61.

Typically, Ebdon dug in and two 54 breaks got him on the board, before a 50 from Trump wrapped things up.